Israel is ramping up its effort to prevent a deal with Iran, which is seen as a serious threat to its national security. It comes after French intervention stalled high-level talks aimed at resolving the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program.

As delegations from Iran and six leading nations were locked in
negotiations in Geneva, the government of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu was continuing to advocate against dealing
with Tehran. Over the weekend, Netanyahu called British PM David
Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to promote Tel Aviv’s
position, he told his Cabinet on Sunday.

“I told them that according to the information reaching
Israel, the deal that appears to be in the offing is bad and
dangerous,” Netanyahu said. “Not just for us but also for
them. I suggested that they wait and give it serious
consideration, and it’s good that that is indeed what was
decided. We will do everything we can to convince the leaders not
to reach a bad agreement.”

"I asked them what was the rush? I suggested they wait,"
he said in remarks relayed by his office.

Netanyahu added that he spoke on the phone to French President
Francois Hollande on the Iranian talks. France took the lead in
stalling negotiations with Iran this weekend,
and the French leader is to visit Israel next Sunday.

Netanyahu himself is to visit Moscow on November 20 just as talks
are to resume in Geneva.

Israel will also be able to voice its objections to a delegation
of senior US officials, led by Wendy Sherman, the U.S.
Undersecretary of State for political affairs, which is due to
arrive in Jerusalem on Sunday. The officials are to update
Netanyahu’s government on the developments in Geneva.

In addition to lobbying President Obama’s administration, Israel
is planning a lobbying campaign aimed at the US Congress, Israeli
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday.

"Before the talks resume, we will lobby dozens of members of
the US Congress to whom I will personally explain during a visit
beginning on Tuesday that Israel's security is in jeopardy,"
he told Israeli army radio.

Iran was engaged in marathon talks with the P5+1 group of nations
in Geneva this week, which it was hoped would produce an
agreement on Tehran’s nuclear power program. Iran was expected to
offer more transparency and agree to limitations on uranium
enrichment in exchange for an eventual lifting of crippling
economic sanctions imposed by the US and the EU.

Netanyahu’s government has been extremely vocal in objecting to
the Obama administration’s rapprochement with Iran after the
election of Hassan Rouhani as the country’s new president.
Apparently, stalling tactics is what the Netanyahu government
sees as a solution in the situation.

"In another two and a half years there will be someone else in
the White House, but we will still be here," Israel's deputy
Defense Minister, Danny Danon, told public radio Sunday.

A failure to strike a deal that would at least partially lift
economic sanctions against Iran may also undermine Rouhani’s
power base at home. The conservative section of the Iranian
establishment is far from approving his policy towards the US,
and a lack of concrete results in the talks may cost the Iranian
president support.

The possible recovery of Iran, a leading Shiite nation in the
Middle East, is also viewed with disdain by the Sunni monarchies
such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. US Secretary
of State John Kerry will be flying to Abu Dhabi to meet his
counterpart in the UAE, Sheikh Abudllah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and
is expected to discuss the Iran negotiations.

Israel reportedly forged a shaky alliance with these usually strictly
anti-Israel nations, as they are united in their common goal to
undermine Iran.